Why Broward Doesn't "Work" - Part One
(The Will of the People - NOT!)
Broward County Commissioners Ilene Lieberman and Stacy Ritter are to Good Government what a $15,000 Birkin Bag is to Good Taste.
Or maybe even worse.
You be the judge.
Broward's Schtarker Sisters
Commissioner Lieberman Commissioner Ritter
Lieberman and Ritter, as you may recall, led the sucessful jihad to build a new $328 million County Courthouse – after Broward voters bombed the project in a county-wide referendum four years ago.
Call it yet another sordid example of Democracy Gang Raped by your local officials and the special interest groups they represent.
But then as wives of two working lobbyists, Lieberman and Ritter climb into bed with special interest groups every night.
Then there's Broward County Mayor Ken Keechl, who early on in the Lieberman-Ritter Courthouse crusade noted:
“I think we should not go to the voters in regard to this courthouse (project). I don't think it will pass.”
Which, hands down, earns Keechl this year's Barbed Wire Dildo for Chutzpah in Government.
Anyhow...
So much for the will of the people.
Because Broward's County Commissioner approved construction of the new Courthouse earlier this month – by a six-to-three vote.
More on this in a future installment.
But for now, the question is: Who's picking up the tab for the new Courthouse?
Nobody, according to the Lieberman-Ritterman plan which calls for the $328 million project to be funded by:
- $65 million in county tax dollars already set aside for the construction of a new jail now no longer needed.
- $270 million from a half-cent piece of Florida's six percent sales tax which the state returns to Broward every year.
Which led Commissioner Keechl to publicly tinkle all over Lieberman and Ritter for coming up with “a way.. to pay for (the courthouse) without increasing the tax burden on the people of Broward County.”
Trouble is....
The Lieberman-Ritter Plan is little more than a nightmare version of the scheme where your kid says it won't cost any money if you use his allowance for the next 10 years to buy the new car he wants.
But you do the disingenuous math driving the Lieberman-Ritter Plan.
Based on the County's current budget, Broward this year will collect some $45.6 million from the six percent sales tax.
Now, in committing a half-percent of its local sale tax revenue to finance the lion's share of the new courthouse, Broward this year would net less than $4 million.
Which begs several questions the Lieberman-Ritter Plan fails to address, like:
Q - When was the last time the county financed a multi-million project that came in anywhere close to its original budget?
A - Never.
Q - Plus how much will it cost to pay off the bonds needed to finance the new courthouse?
A - Nobody knows.
However, that's hardly the worst of the Lieberman-Ritter Plan.
But again, you do the dubious math.
Based on reality.
6% Sales Tax Revenue Courthouse .5%
2006 $65.1 million $5.4 million
2007 $55.4 million $4.6 million
2008 $50.8 million $4.2 million
2009 $50.8 million $4.2 million
2010 $45.7 million (projected) $3.8 million (projected)
*Adjusted for inflation
SOURCE: Broward County Annual Budgets
Small wonder convicted Broward Ponzi Con Scott Rothstein was involved in the early stages of the Lieberman-Ritter Courthouse Crusade.
Oh yes.
In objecting to the disingenuois math in Lieberman-Ritter Plan, Commissioner John Rodstrom early on asked:
“Explain how this is not going to cost taxpayers any money?”
Which was sort of like questioning George W. and his Veep Dick about their pre-invasion plan to use seized petro dollars to cover the entire cost of “freeing” Iraq.
NOTE: This is the first in a series of posts detailing how and why Broward County is too far gone to be fixed.
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